The Duluth/Twin Ports Hmong New Year is free and open to the public. It features celebrations with programs showcasing Hmong traditions. On Saturday, Dec. 4, at the First United Methodist Church (“The Coppertop Church”), 230 E. Skyline Parkway, Duluth, doors open at 9 a.m., a program starts at 11 a.m., and will be followed by lunch at 12:30 p.m.
The season finale of The Walking Dead is Sunday. Standing room only has been a problem for some of the weeks. Get there early (it’s free!), buy a beer and bring a little extra scratch to Dragonport Games, where you can buy more than 1000 pages of Walking Dead comics, books and more.
That, my fellow Duluthians, is one big ol’ Christmas tree.
Do you know where your oil comes from?
MPIRG UMD, the American Indian Learning Resource Center, and the American Indian Science & Engineering Society welcome you to a film showing and presentation about Minnesota’s use of oil from the Alberta Tar Sands. Please join us for a viewing of the groundbreaking documentary Downstream, along with welcoming Marty Cobenais of the Indigenous Environmental Network who will speak about the catastrophic environmental and human rights consequences of tar sands oil extraction. This event is free and open to the public.
Tuesday, Dec. 7, 7pm, UMD Kirby Student Center Rafters
Questions and RSVP: mpirg @ d.umn.edu
Children’s author Phyllis Root and illustrator and Grand Marais native Betsy Bowen will be signing copies of their new children’s book Big Belching Bog at Northern Lights Books & Gifts on Saturday, Dec. 4, from 1-2 pm.
News release:
Lyric Opera of the North cordially invites you to a new production of Amahl and the Night Visitors by Gian Carlo Menotti.
December 17 & 18 at 7:30 p.m., and December 19 at 2 pm
Scottish Rite Masonic Temple, 4 W. Second St., Duluth.
In the interest of full disclosure, I admit that I suffer from almost pathological nostalgia, a condition that only becomes more acute during the holiday season. Out come boxes of familiar, musty Christmas ornaments that probably should be replaced and mountains of Scandinavian desserts from a tradition now many generations removed from my own. And the annual viewing (okay, multiple viewings) of favorite holiday films: Holiday Inn, It’s a Wonderful Life, Christmas in Connecticut, and, of course, White Christmas.
Given the inviolability of established holiday traditions, it was with a bit of trepidation that I attended a preview show of White Christmas at the Duluth Playhouse. Happily, the production did not disappoint, sailing along with plenty of glitz and good cheer. The set, framed like a vintage Christmas card, the familiar Irving Berlin tunes, vibrant mid-century costumes all invoked an amber-tinted yesteryear.
Dann gets a suit at Mainstream Fashions for Men.
Go Ryan!
Minnesota Monthly review of Duluth’s JJ Astor restaurant:
Room with a View
Contact Tom @ 218-349-0514 if you have any info on the whereabouts of Sugar.
Lost Dog - Dec 1st - Sugar
Here’s an afternoon killer: Take a look at the challenged ballots in the Minnesota governor’s race recount.
(The three above are from Aitkin County.)
Thursday, Dec. 2, Cities Never Sleep releases its new full-length album at Grandma’s Sports Garden! Other bands are featured and house DJs the Crunchy Bunch. Come rock and roll!
Went to the rollout of the new Art in the Alley gallery in Superior last night. Wonderful shopping experience with the original art of beader Tami LaPole and over-the-top potter Dan Edmunds. It’s in the old city hall. Enter off Broadway Street. It is the most unique shop on both sides of the bridge and will make Superior a shopping destination with terrific gift items, original art from area artist. Can’t say enough good about it. Definitely worth the trip over, and a welcome new addition to the Twin Ports shopping scene.
In my email today:
Dear Loyal Customers,
Sometime in the near future the Duluth News Tribune will be running a story about Northern Lights Books & Gifts being for sale. It is true. Since August I have been contacting our top customers and local book colleagues to let them know I was looking for a buyer. Our lease will be up the end of February and I do not plan to renew.
I have decided to scale back my professional responsibilities so I can be available to travel in order to care for elderly parents in northern Illinois. Over the past year I have been gone nine weeks. I am very grateful to my staff for their professionalism and for their loyal efforts on behalf of the bookstore.
There have also been significant changes in traditional bookselling. I believe we are at a “Guttenberg” moment in publishing with the impact of electronic media. A new fresh approach is required for continued success in bookselling at the brick and mortar level. My heart and head are distracted with other priorities and I do not have the energy to figure out what comes next for profitible bookselling.
It has truly been an honor and a dream come true to serve the community of book lovers who have shopped with us for the past seventeen years. In the meantime we are operating full steam ahead through the holiday season.
Gratefully,
Anita Zager
Northern Lights Books & Gifts
Book fair to benefit Friends of the Library, 9 a.m.-10 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 4 at Barnes & Noble.
9:30-11 a.m. Music by Terence Smith and friends,
1-4 p.m. Crafts for kids – stamp and scrap cards, snowflakes, gift tags from recycled cards & wrap, write letters to troops.
4 p.m. Story Hour with Mary Linda Sather
Use the vouchers available at the store and your purchase will benefit the Friends of and the Duluth Public Library. If you can’t come to the store, go online anytime from Dec. 4-9 to bn.com/bookfairs. At the end of your order, enter the book fair number: 10288355
